Souls in Teyvat

Karma.

What a beautiful word for such an ugly concept.

No matter how many times you said the word, it would still flow out of your mouth with ease.

But the meaning behind it couldn't be more sinister.

No matter what you do, the final result will always be 0.

Say that you help your neighbour clean their garden, following the concept of karma, you would receive something good in exchange right?

Good thing then! Karma is the way to be happy!

Everyone, cheer for karma!!

Yayyy-...

Or not.

Because there is something everyone misses.

Say that your neighbour also helped you clean your own garden in response, because all karma says is that the universe will pay you back right?

So now you have help with your garden. Perfect.

Soooo… why did you even help your neighbour to begin with?

Isn't karma anything more than the name of a transaction with a cosmic being watching over it?

Be good, and you will receive in return.

Well, you paid for it, you better get something. Be an asshole, the universe will fuck you back.

In the end, the sum of your actions will be neutral, because you will receive what you paid for.

Use your time to help others, good things will happen to you, as you paid for them. Be bad, get screwed over.

See?

No matter what you do, you will end up with a neutral result.

And that, was what Elise thought with a blank stare, while her parents howled in fear and desperation, trying to hug her without leaving any space unprotected.

'So, if everything ends up in a neutral result, why the hell am I in red numbers?' wondered Elise.

While the plane she was in fell to the ground at speed no vehicle should ever go.

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"So you got a trip to Japan?" asked Elise with a disbelieving expression.

"I already told you" said an exhilarated woman with black hair, nodding energetically. "I won the lottery at my workplace."

"Yes, but why us?" asked Elise. "You know, we are the apex of normality. We only buy milk when it has already gone, we call for you when we don't know where something is and we fight for the remote control of the TV. Why us when there are hundreds of thousands of families out there, just like us? What criteria did God follow to choose us between all common grains of sand in this giant sea we like to call the world?"

"You are reading too much of that thing" said Elise's mother, deadpanning at her daughter.

"Elise, good things can also happen to normal people" intervened her father with a calm voice. "You said it yourself, we are common people like other millions of families. So, why not us?"

"...."

"Common as we are, we are a hardworking family" added Elise's mother with a smile. "It might be karm-"

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"Fuck karma" was all Elise said with a blank expression when the plane collided with the ground, creating a crater and a mess of blood and torn tissue far too horrendous to look at without puking.

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"You died."

Elise looked blankly at the woman in front of her, not impressed at all by her appearance.

Long white hair that spilt into the purely white ground, shining golden eyes that exuded confidence, 3 pairs of golden winds on her back exuding enough power to make her shiver, and wearing a pristine white robe that couldn't hide her curves.

And yet, no emotions of admiration or respect were born inside the common-looking girl.

"Did I now?" asked Elise looking at the nodding... 'woman' in front of her. "And here I thought I could survive after my volume got multiplied by 0 and my surface for a million."

"A nerdy one this time, I see" replied the woman, her voice creating ripples in the air that would have terrified someone other than Elise, who was too busy questioning the value her life had in the eyes of the cosmic being that ruled that bullshit 'karma'. "That's me."

"Are you?" asked Elise, now showing interest in the thing in front of her.

Much to even her own surprise, no anger surged within her looking at the most probable responsible of her death.

Do you get angry at the atmosphere when a lightning bolt incinerates you? No, right?

So why would you get angry at this thing then?

"Pragmatism taken to the extreme, a curious trait to have" said the woman with a raised eyebrow.

"Life is already hard enough without us adding more to it" replied Elise.

"And yet, yours has ended" reminded the 'thing. "Just so you know, I have a female identity, you can refer to me as Alhaia."

"Will do" was all Elise said, and waited for 'something' to happen.

She didn't know where she was, what happened to her aside from being turned into a 2-dimensional being, why was she brought here, or what Alhaia wanted from her.

What she knew though was that she was at this thing's mercy.

"It's Alhaia" said the woman in front of the recently deceased girl. "Ugh, why do I have to take the most troublesome ones..."

"You just admitted you basically killed me, should have thought it better" reminded Elise, making Alhaia sigh.

"Let's just get on with it" mumbled Alhaia, looking at Elise's eyes.

"Is this when you confess that you made a mistake, and as compensation I get another chance in life in an idyllic world with a system that will allow me to live every power fantasy I can think of?" asked Elise... with some expectations bleeding into her voice.

"You just died, and you are already thinking about your next life?" asked Alhaia exasperated. "The one in charge of your world must be doing a very poor job."

"Well... nothing I can do now, and my parents are probably going to get the same treatment I do, right?" asked Elise, receiving a nod. "The better the life I get, the better life they get. Easy. I will grieve later, maybe I can even see them in my next life."

"That won't happen" rejected Alhaia, making Elise frown. "But I can tell them your last message."

"Tell them that I-"

"But that will come later" interrupted Alhaia. "We have a schedule to follow."

"...okay, I guess" mumbled Elise, but a shine returned to her eyes. "So, did you fuck up-"

"I didn't make any mistake" interrupted Alhaia. "Unfortunately for you, there was a terrorist in that plane."

"...so you killed a hundred people just for 1 person?" asked Elise, more surprised than indignant or alarmed.

"His future acts were worth more than those 100 people's lives, so yes" and Alhaia readily admitted it.

And Elise shrugged.

Just as you couldn't predict when an earthquake would happen, trying to understand what this non-human woman was thinking about was impossible.

Racial traits were important after all.

"But you are right, you are in 'red numbers' as you put it, so it's my duty to make it 0 again" added Alhaia, allowing Elise to understand something.

'In the end, that neutral state is what everything in the universe tends to' mused Elise, having caught a glimpse of the TRUTH.

"So I get another chance at that overrated process called living?" asked Elise, making Alhaia sigh again.

"Yes, you do" nodded the white-haired woman. "And no, before you can ask, you can't choose where."

"And do I-"

"You won't have powers beyond the average"

"And-"

"Those systems are a scam, you should have already realized it."

"I-"

"Give up" ended Alhaia, making Elise slump. "The world you will reincarnate in will be chosen at random."

Following her words, a giant transparent sphere appeared, with shining balls of every single colour Elise's human eyes could discern.

"A lotto, really?" asked a dismayed Elise. "You should know how horrible gacha games treat me...."

"A coincidence, I don't care that much about you to elaborate on this just to mess with you" replied Alhaia, standing up and touching the sphere.

With a golden light that momentarily blinded Elise, a golden parchment appeared in Alhaia's hands, who started to skin through it.

"The worlds these small spheres represent are chosen based on your life, and what did you spent the most time in" explained Alhaia, with a slightly surprised look in her eyes.

"Doesn't humans spend a third of their life sleeping?" asked curiously Elise. "Are those balls my dreams then?"

"Have you dreamed about Elden Ring?" asked Alhaia, whose look was growing increasingly alarmed the more she read.

"Hey, I didn't play that mu-"

"You did" interrupted Alhaia. "You spent a third of your time gaming."

"....no excuses" shrugged Elise, who realized that she had already died anyway. But a look of excitement and fear, yes, those 2 contradictory emotions at the same time, appeared on her face.

Because she didn't know which world might she travel to.

"Just... take a look at this" said an exasperated Alhaia. "I swear, humanity is getting out of hand."

Elise picked up the list with trepidation, and started reading.

....

....

....

"What is this?!" shouted Elise with panic written in her face. "I only played that Berserk game for an hour until I realized it was shit!! Why is it here!!"

But much to her despair, Alhaia only shrugged.

"Do you really think sending me there is 'making my red numbers go up?!" tried the anxious Elise again, but faced with Alhaia's indifference, she continued reading. ".... shit."

Goblin Slayer, Akame ga Kill, Honkai Impact 3rd, Tokyo Ghoul, Fullmetal Alchemist….

Not only were the games she played here, but even novels and animes she had seen appeared here.

"In this lottery, all your tastes are included" explained Alhaia.

"I can see that" muttered Elise, seeing some horrible destinations, but the majority of them could be considered 'neutral' worlds, where she would be able to live a common life like the normie she was.

But the bad worlds were just horrible.

"Which means something, doesn't it?" asked Alhaia with a frown, and upon sensing Elise's questioning gaze, she pointed at the list.

Which unfolded out of nothing, and thousands of names appeared on it.

But a few ones were shining, which Alhaia wanted Elise to see, much to the girl's dismay.

Euphori-....Taimani…

"Let's ignore that, shall we?" asked the girl, erasing those memories from her mind. "So, what do I do?"

"Pray" replied the woman, before the giant sphere started rotating.

"Just to know" said Elise, looking at the lottery machine that would decide her future. "Do you really create a world for every anime or game in that list? Seems like a waste of effort when you could put us in a random pre-existing world. Unless-"

"No, we didn't send those writers knowledge about other worlds" interrupted Alhaia. "Do you know what the 'Matrix' is?"

"No" replied Elise with a wary tone.

"Nothing you need to care about then" added Alhaia. "Just know that you will effectively enter one of those worlds."

Elise tried to ask again, but the giant sphere stopped moving.

And slowly, almost provocatively, a ball rolled to Elise's feet.

"You take it, my bad luck would scare a dementor" said Elise, looking at Alhaia with a pleading gaze.

"Unfortunately, I can't" but Alhaia destroyed her hopes like a railgun would make a fly disappear. "Only you can take it, it symbolizes that your future is decided by your own hands."

"Just like I decided to die in that plane, right?" asked Elise, but sighed and a trembling hand-picked the ball, cold to the touch.

The list appeared in Alhaia's hand once again, but only one name remained.

"Genshin Impact" read Alhaia, making Elise sigh in relief.

At least she wouldn't need to worry about random Behelits appearing around her spawning abominations that liked to do everything but help people.

She had stopped playing a long while ago, but she retained some basic knowledge, that was COINCIDENTALLY the one she couldn't skip.

Which was about everything, Paimon was that annoying.

She would only need to worry about Snezhnaya's 'diplomats', the Abyss Order carrying a toxic miasma to say the least, that crazed 'doctor' creating and torturing just about everything, and who knew how many things hidden behind the surface.

'This isn't as good as I thought' mused Elise, realizing that behind the happy and warm exterior, a cold reality lay within the depths of Teyvat.

"Let's proceed" said Alhaia, making the giant sphere containing worlds full of promises and pain to disappear in a flash.

"You have to be kidding me" said blankly Elise. "More gacha?"

Now a roulette stood in front of her.

"This one will decide your birthplace" explained Alhaia, but Elise had already read all possibilities.

'Moonstadt would be the best, Liyue a close second, Sumeru… meh, Inazuma… no thanks, ridiculously powerful lightning lady with a traumatic past and too much of a free hand is a big no, I have no clue about Natlan, Fontaine is a big No, wasn't there child and human trafficking? And Snezhnaya is just a death sentence' Elise analysed her possibilities, and realized that 4 out of 7 were tolerable.

Inazuma, Senzhnaya and Fontaine, fuck no.

Natlan, maybe.

Monstadt and Liyua, hell yeah.

Sumeru… meh.

With bated breath she pushed the roulette, hoping that all the luck she didn't have in her gacha games would appear here.

"Inazuma."

"Fuck" cursed Elise. "Wasn't this world supposed to tend to neutrality? Why am I being screwed over even now?"

"Don't worry, sooner or later it will come your way" shrugged Alhaia.

"Would you have said the same had I been reborn in Berserk?" asked Elise with a frown, and Alhaia chose to wisely ignore her.

But now, a hundred cards facing down appeared in front of Elise.

"Your appearance" explained Alhaia, making Elise look fearfully at the cards.

She picked one, hoping to look more like a human and less like an orc.

"Above average" nodded Alhaia with a small smile, but all she saw was Elise's despairing face. "You finally got something good, why are you not satisfied?

"Because if this is what made my account turn to 0, doesn't that mean I can get into red numbers again?" asked Elise, making Alhaia sigh in exasperation.

"Next, your social standing."

And Elise chose a straw.

"Farmer. There are no slaves, so it's the lowest one."

"...."

"The economic power of your family."

And Elise picked a turned-down glass, revealing a small note hidden underneath.

"Poor. You were born in Inazuma, so while you won't starve, you won't be able to afford that many luxuries."

"....."

"Next, your intelligence"

Elise introduced her hand in a box, and picked a random piece of paper.

"See? I told you, things will eventually come your way. You will retain the intelligence you have here."

"I will only be a poor family with the lowest social standing in the country famed for its corruption" muttered Elise, who also didn't know if keeping her intelligence was a good or a bad thing, because from her knowledge, she was common even in that area. But thinking that she might have drawn something like 'smarter than a centipede, dumber than a frog', she would take that as a victory.

"Next, your special ability. Don't misunderstand it, you won't be able to defeat anyone with a modicum of training without relying upon luck, but in a world with special abilities, being an average person means having something."

And Elise threw a dart at a dartboard with strange runes around it.

"You got the ability to know if you have been poisoned."

".....so I will know I will die minutes before I get poisoned, great."

"Next, your family"

Elise picked a white card tied in a red rope.

"Single mother, your father died because of a parasite that tore his muscles, including his heart."

"...."

"Next, the time period"

And Elise they a ball to a giant table a dozen meters away, full of holes symbolizing a different outcome.

"You will be a child 10 years old by the time the Traveller arrives at Inazuma."

"....shit."

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"So to summarize" said Elise with an expression devoid of hope. "I'm a good-looking girl, in the lowest stratum of society with only a mother as a parental figure, in a country famed for its corruption and being a dictatorship, my only tool is to know when poison has already entered my body, and by the time the war breaks out I will be nothing more than a defenceless child."

"Indeed" nodded Alhaia. "But the more you train your ability, the stronger it will be. At a certain point you will be able to somewhat resist some weak poisons."

"I only need to ingest poison for that" scoffed Elise. "Poison that will kill me on the first try."

"And even if you train it" added Alhaia, ignoring Elise's factual statement. "Be reminded that a lot of medicines will also stop working."

"....."

And Elise finally knew there was no hope in any world for her.

"Something else? Or can I start digging my own tomb now?" muttered the exhausted girl, having been battered by bad luck for hours.

"That's all" said Alhaia, and even she couldn't help but show some pity towards the girl. "Is there something you want me to say to your parents?"

"...yes" nodded Elise. "Can you tell me where they got dropped off?"

"Your mother went to a Marvel world, and her special ability is to adapt to any kind of energy she comes in contact with" said Alhaia after a small pause, making Elise deadpan. "And your father went to a fantasy world with the ability to see a few minutes into the future."

"What the fuck" muttered Elise.

"Looks like they got all the luck you didn't have" said Alhaia with a look of pure pity. "Look at it this way, their luck could have been yours, you only gave it to them, so it's not like it disappeared into nothingness."

"I guess" replied Elise with a sigh. "Maybe, now that I know they are fine, I can focus without a worry in my new life. I hope they can see each oth-"

"They won't" interrupted Alhaia, making Elise sigh again. But when the woman with long white hair continued, Elise felt another part of herself leave to unknown places. "You yourself said it, your family was the definition of average. Your parents hated each other beyond belief, so they will actively try to avoid each other. Right now, your mother is using the only chance she will have to get drunk before her Doomsday body adapts to it to curse at him, while he is in an orgy full of 'jade beauties' doing the same."

"...great" muttered Elise, her childhood and early teenage years getting shattered.

"Now, what did you want me to tell them?" asked Alhaia, with a gentleness in her voice even she wouldn't have thought possible.

"That I lov-"

But just when Elise was starting to get emotional, her world turned black.

"....sorry, that was all the time we had."

Alhaia's apologetic voice was all Elise could sense before her body fell limp to the ground.

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"It's a girl"

Elise opened her eyes, only to see an exhausted woman with dark eyes and brown hair looking at her tenderly.

Conflicting emotions took over the baby with a teenage girl's mind, confusing and puzzling Elise about what to feel.

She remembered everything that happened with Alhaia, and understood that this woman was to be her new mother.

And yet..... the baby showed a dull look in her brown eyes when she saw through the window, which alarmed the mother and the doctors within the room.

'This is Genshin, right?' wondered the girl, hoping to understand how deep her misfortune went. 'If so, why is there a hole in the fucking sky?'

Indeed, Elise had been reborn in Teyvat, the same day another soul left it.

Luck wasn't on Elise's side, clearly.